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United States of America
The United States of America (also known as the United States, the U.S., the USA, the States, and America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising 50 states and a federal district. Its capital is Washington in that federal district. The nation was founded by 13 colonies of Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard of North America. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence. A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791. In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, the national economy was the world's largest. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. The end of the Cold War left the United States as the sole superpower. Literary comment In certain of his works, Harry Turtledove has altered the USA's history and explored that history in sufficient enough detail to justify separate articles. These are: :United States of America (The Hot War), for the version found in The Hot War series. :United States of America (Joe Steele), for the version found primarily in the novel version of Joe Steele. :United States of America (Southern Victory), for the version found in the Southern Victory series. :United States of America (Worldwar), for the version found in the Worldwar franchise. United States in Crosstime Traffic Crosstime Traffic maintained a base of operations in the United States in the home timeline. The United States was one of several suspects in the destruction on the Syrian capital Damascus in 2033 with a nuclear weapon smuggled into the city. In the mid 21st Century, the US and the European Union intervened in Iran. However, the Second Iranian Intervention did not go as planned.The Disunited States of America, pg. 160. The company was aware of several alternates with differing versions of the US. There were several where the Confederate States had won the American Civil War and others where the United States had been conquered by the Axis.The Gladiator, pg. 262. There was at least one where the United States had become a dictatorship and went on to dominate the world.The Disunited States of America In another alternate, the United States never existed as the American Revolution did not take place. In an alternate where nuclear weapons had never been developed, the United States and the Soviet Union fought World War VI in the 2090s. Footage taken in this alternate was shown to high school students in their US history classes.Gunpowder Empire, pg. 12. Conversely, there were several alternates where an atomic war took place in the 20th Century. Explorers from the home timeline found that in some of these alternates the USSR had started the war whereas in others, the US had fired the first shots.The Valley-Westside War, pg. 258 Some of these were in the process of getting back on their feet. Others were completely devoid of human life. United States in Curious Notions In the alternate designated as 3477 by Crosstime Traffic, the United States remained neutral during the war of 1914, and watched helplessly as Germany subdued Europe, solidifying its rule by the late 1930s. In 1956, Germany attacked and defeated the United States, dropping atomic bombs on a dozen cities on the first day of its war. The United States remained under German rule over 140 years later. United States in The Disunited States of America The United States was the name of a nation which existed for about 30 years in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The nation's doom was sealed in 1787, when a conflict at the Constitutional Convention over the nature of representation could not be resolved or compromised. A new Constitution was never adopted, so the weak Articles of Confederation were allowed to stand, the central government never managed to control the states, and eventually all of the states became independent countries. United States in The Gladiator In one alternate Crosstime Traffic visited, United States was unequal to the task of confronting the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The most important event that broke the Soviet Union's way included the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the U.S. allowed the Soviet Union to maintain missiles in Cuba. This decision signaled to the world that the United States was not as ardent about fighting the Cold War as it claimed. In 1968, the U.S. withdrew troops from the Vietnam War. In response, European communists and socialists established popular fronts, which gradually pushed European governments away from the US and towards the Soviet Union. By the 1970s, most of Europe was under communist rule. The United States held out on its own until the end of the 20th century, when it too fell to communist rule. By the late 21st century, the United States was seen as harmless, and was completely obedient to the USSR.The Gladiator, pgs. 17-22, HC. Americans were usually portrayed as villains in the popular culture of the world, often acting as spies who sought to bring back capitalism or Nazism or both.Ibid., pg. 167. The Crosstime Traffic employee Eduardo Caruso considered this alternate to be only slightly better than ones in which Fascism had come to dominate the world.Ibid., pg. 262. United States in The Valley-Westside War Following its devastating nuclear war with the Soviet Union in 1967, the territory of the United States was split up into countless mini-states and chaotic lawless areas. Just in the former city of Los Angeles there were several such states, jealous of their full sovereignty and occasionally going to war with each other. In most ways, people felt loyalty to their own state and regarded the inhabitants of other states carved from former US territory as "foreigners" and often as outright enemies. Still, many of these states continued celebrating the Fourth of July, expressing a vestigial feeling of being "Americans" and a remaining hostility towards the Russians, though most people had no real idea of where Russia was or what "communism" was. There was also a hope that sooner or later the whole territory of the United States would be reunited, though nobody could guess when and how that would be effected. People in The Valley expressed the hope that one day a descendant of King Zev might achieve this task, but they had no real concept of how big the United States had been, having only a vague idea even about distant parts of what had been the State of California. United States in Days of Infamy The United States had sought to remain neutral in the conflict that was quickly evolving into World War II. That ended in 1941, when, in response to Japan's aggression in China, the United States stopped selling oil and steel to Japan. Japan saw this as an act of aggression, as without these resources Japan's military machine would grind to a halt. In March, 1941, the Japanese government resolved to go to war with the United States. The first blow would be an attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, on the U.S. territory of Hawaii. However, at the insistence of Commander Minoru Genda and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, that plan became an invasion of Hawaii. The invasion began on December 7, 1941. U.S. forces, believing such an attack impossible while also presuming their inherent superiority, were surprised by the efficiency and skill Japanese forces demonstrated. The Japanese quickly gained dominance of the air and the sea, and U.S. ground forces were overwhelmed by the tenacity of the Japanese army. By February, 1942, U.S. forces surrendered. For the remainder of 1942, U.S. policy was directed to regaining Hawaii, while also at war with Japan's ally, Germany. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to pursue a "Germany first" policy in the war, but the loss of Hawaii, followed by Japan's air raid on San Francisco, forced the U.S. to focus its attention on the Pacific. The first response from the U.S. came in March 1942, when Jimmy Doolittle led an air-raid on Oahu. In retaliation, Japanese bombers raided San Francisco, an act that further humiliated the U.S. In June 1942, the United States sent a fleet of three aircraft carriers and assorted troopships and destroyers to retake the islands. The Japanese navy met the Americans, sinking two of the carriers (the Saratoga and the Yorktown) and forcing a retreat. Embarrassed, the United States continued its production of aircraft carriers. It was able to hurt Japan's supply lines via submarines and harassed the islands with bombing raids. In the wake of the failed invasion, the U.S. concentrated on a realistic plan for invading Hawaii, assembling an overwhelming force. In 1943, the United States returned, with a massive fleet, comprised of some seven aircraft carriers, five light carriers, close to a dozen escort carriers, several destroyers, and troop carriers. This invasion proved to be the end of Japanese rule in Hawaii, as the Japanese naval contingent was destroyed, and the Japanese supply line, already taxed, was broken completely. American forces landed at Oahu, and after a period of bitter fighting, were able to subdue Japan's ground forces. The United States turned its attention to Midway, which was still under Japanese control. United States in "Elder Skelter" The United States was in the throes of a generational crisis as Boomers retained the reigns of government in the face of Generation Xers and Wires. The Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution had been passed, which called for a balanced budget and restrained entitlement programs. When Quebec invaded the Maritimes, the Maritimes called on the US to arbitrate a cease-fire and send peace-keepers. In a cabinet meeting, the president reazlied that the Twenty-Eighth Amendment limited her use of peace-keepers. She was also confronted by the generational anxiety of her younger cabinet members. The situation was made more difficult by the possibility that Quebec might next turn its attention to Maine if it wasn't stopped in the Maritimes. United States in "Getting Real" Early in the 21st century China refused to continue to lend to the United States causing a severe economic downturn. The debts resulted in the U.S. ceding Catalina Island and the rest of the California Channel Islands to China. The U.S. reacted poorly causing its problems to escalate so that by 2117 it was considered by the world an "economic basket case". During this period, the U.S. government and its citizens refused to recognize their changed status and continued to act as though it were the premier superpower leading to further declines. China used this to its advantage and gained the U.S.'s former status. The U.S. also reacted militarily but had lost ground technologically as well so that its attacks were defeated. The resulting indemnities required the United States to lease Long Beach and San Pedro to the Chinese while Los Angeles was temporally put under military occupation by the Chinese. These actions insured that the U.S. would continue its decline. United States in The Guns of the South In 1861, under President Abraham Lincoln, the United States became involved in a civil war when eleven slaveholding Southern states opted to secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America. Four years of warfare (what became known as the Second American Revolution) followed. In 1864, the Confederacy's chances of victory were diminishing in the face several critical military defeats and the vast difference in industrial and human resources that favored the U.S. However, through the actions of a group of time-traveling members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, a racist South African organization, the South was saved. The Rivington Men (as they came to be called) supplied Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia with AK-47 automatic rifles. These futuristic weapons more than made up for the Confederacy's lack of resources. After several weeks of training, the Army of Northern Virginia engaged the Federal military at the Wilderness and then Bealeton, Virginia. The Federals were completely surprised by the new "repeaters", and quickly collapsed. In a news paper article of the time in the short battles in the Wilderness the federals suffered 40,000 losses. The ANV pressed on to Washington City, where President Abraham Lincoln had remained despite the encroaching enemy. When Lee and his army arrived, Lincoln invited the rebel commander into the White House to negotiate an armistice, ending major combat of the Second American Revolution. The United States licked its wounds. Lincoln was voted out of office, although he was able to secure reasonably good terms for peace. One conflict was the status of Kentucky and Missouri, two slave-states. Under a compromise, both were allowed to decide which country they would join in a plebiscite. Missouri remained part of the United States, while Kentucky joined the Confederate States. The United States was able reverse engineer AK-47s captured from Confederate troops. These guns were put into mass production. Although not quite as reliable as the Confederate models, the guns were nonetheless successful. By 1867, the United States had launched a war with Britain and an invasion of British North America. United States in The House of Daniel In the 1930s, the United States was reeling from the bursting of the Big Bubble and the economic downturn that followed. Companies went out of business, and those that remained turned to hiring zombies, as they would work for no pay.The House of Daniel, see, e.g., pg 10, HC. Down-and-out people even volunteered to become zombies, as zombies felt no pain or sadness. Conjurors frequently enticed such desperate souls. Other supernatural problems included vampires, many of whom had migrated from Europe. Werewolves and chupacabras were frequent on the plains and the deserts. And in 1934, the zombies of Denver, Colorado rioted.Ibid., loc. 3920-4285. Still, the U.S. carried on. The government sponsored a number of work projects to improve the country's infrastructure while putting people to work. And there was always time for the great American past-time: baseball. United States in In the Presence of Mine Enemies The United States remained neutral during the Second World War, watching as country after country fell in Europe and in Asia. After the war, the United States found itself in a growing cold war with the victorious Axis, particularly the Germany and the Empire of Japan, climaxing with the Third World War in the late 1960s. Germany was the first country to develop nuclear weapons, destroying Washington, DC and Philadelphia during the fighting. While the U.S. was able to counter-attack German soil, it was subdued by its enemies. During the war, America lost a third of its population. After the war ended, the Reich genocided the Jewish and Negro populations in the United States with large massacres taking place in New York City and Los Angeles. Segments of the white American population assisted in these massacres. With Washington, DC reduced to a nuclear wasteland, the American capital was moved to Omaha in the Mid West where a pro-Nazi American administration was established. The US paid an annual tribute, which became an important source of income for the Reich's economy. When the United States was either unable to pay this tribute or was late in doing so, the ''Wehrmacht'', which maintained bases in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Omaha itself, used terror tactics to bring the U.S. in line. The American economy underwent hyperinflation following the war with the US Dollar fallen from its place as a major world currency. In 2010, as part of the reforms promised by the fourth Führer Heinz Buckliger, Germany reduced the annual assessment by 13% (allowing the American economy to flow easier) and sent a division of occupation troops in the US back to the Reich (allowing the Americans to do more as they pleased with a lesser chance of being bullied and harassed by the occupation troops). Despite this, some ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' officials like Heinrich Gimpel and Willi Dorsch assumed that the Americans would always try to find ways out of paying the annual tribute. In 2011, the U.S. effectively defaulted. However, the Reich did not respond militarily as it had in the past. Nonetheless, the Wehrmacht was keen to keep the U.S. under heel, knowing full well that the U.S. could make a formidable opponent if it regained its freedom. United States in "The Last Article" The United States had remained neutral during World War II. This allowed the Germans to overrun all of Europe and the Japanese to run wild in Asia. By 1947, the Americans had realized their error of non-interference and were backing the Free French in Africa against the Nazi backed Vichy French. The Germans had also warned the Americans not to interfere with the Japanese empire in the Pacific Ocean. Everyone believed that one day soon, the United States would be the next target of both the Germans and the Japanese. United States in "Liberating Alaska" Early in the 20th century, a Russian trapper hunting beaver found gold in the region around the minor town of Siknazuak, Alaska. The minor town almost immediately boomed into a real city as Russians, Canadians and Americans flooded the area, digging for easy gold. However, once the easy gold was extracted, the boom became a bust, and large chunks of the population returned to their respective homes. Gold could still be had, but it required a great deal of work. From 1918 to 1920, the United States was one of several countries that invaded Russian territory to combat the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. While the Reds won and established the Soviet Union, their leader, Vladimir Lenin, was forced to cede a number of Russian territories. As the U.S. Marines withdrew from Siberia, they were able to seize the Russian territory of Alaska, and Lenin did not contest it.Asimov's Science Fiction, July/August, 2018. Veterans of the U.S. invasion of Siberia would later help liberate Siknazuak, Alaska in June 1929 after Joseph Stalin sent troops to take the city. Siknazuak's close proximity to Siberia made the initial invasion easy for the Soviets. The U.S. invaded with overwhelming force, capturing or killing a substantial number of the invading Soviets. However, enough Soviets escaped that the U.S. realized it would need to maintain a permanent garrison in Siknazuak to counter any insurgencies.Ibid. United States in The Man With the Iron Heart The United States had entered World War II unwillingly, but had soon proven equal to the task. By May 1945, Germany had fallen to combined American British, French and Soviet forces. Harry Truman had been suddenly thrust into the presidency when Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. Truman was faced several difficult decisions. While the European theater of World War II was winding down, Japan had signaled its intention to fight to the bitter end. In actuality, the war in Europe erupted again almost immediately, as the German Freedom Front, under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich, launched a resistance movement against the Allied forces occupying the country. The casualties inflicted against American troops began to wear away at public support for the occupation. While Germany continued to simmer, the war against Japan continued at full boil. Shortly after taking office, Truman was informed of the development of the atomic bomb. Fearing the loss of life that could arise from the invasion of the Japanese home islands, Truman ordered the deployment of a bomb against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively in August, 1945. Japan immediately surrendered. However, Germany was quietly deteriorating. Nearly 1000 American soldiers had been killed since the war officially ended (including General George Patton), and the U.S. Army seemed unable to stop the GFF. The mother of one of those killed, Diana McGraw, gathered together other people who'd lost loved ones, and began protesting the Truman Administration. December 1945 proved to be a most difficult period for the country. The GFF destroyed the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg just as various Nazi officials were to go on trial for war crimes, and then issued a film featuring kidnapped private Matthew Cunningham pleading for the withdrawal of troops in exchange for his life. That film leaked to the American press by Tom Schmidt, a reporter in Germany. Diana McGraw's Mothers Against the Madness in Germany protested outside the White House. Her group was joined by various legislators, both Republicans and Democrats. Witnessing the protest, Truman himself approached McGraw, and argued the threat that both the Nazis and the Soviet Union (America's former ally) posed to the peace. Unfortunately for him, Truman took far too condescending a tone, which helped shore up McGraw's own self-assurance that the lives lost were too a high a price. Nor could he dislodge her belief that the atomic bomb would be easily deployed should either Germany or the USSR become a threat. Truman continued this line of argument publically throughout 1946. He dismissed the notion that McGraw's view was gaining momentum with the American people, and waived off the possibility that the Republicans would ride the issue to Congressional victory in the fall. He also asserted that foreign policy was set by the executive, and so scoffed angrily at the idea that Republican Congress could (much less would) order the troops home. In 1946, American troops very nearly had their hands on Heydrich after the guerrilla leader personally oversaw the kidnapping of a group of German physicists from British custody. Tom Schmidt, now working for the Chicago Tribune, grew ever more critical of the Administration, dispensing with much civility. With the actual war over, American policy now grew frosty to its allies, especially the Soviet Union, although this applied to France as well. Despite warnings from CIC officer Lou Weissberg, French authorities did not heed warnings that the German town of Hechingen would be a GFF target. The GFF was able to collected a quantity of radium that had been abandoned by the German scientists, and detonated it as part of a bomb in the American compound in Frankfurt. This attack came just as the Allies were making their second attempt to try German war criminals. With these events as a spring-board, the Republicans were able to take back the House and the Senate in November 1946. In the meantime, America's allies Britain and France were subjected to attacks by the GFF on their home soil. While Truman issued statements of solidarity, it did nothing to change the American voters' minds. The ascension of the Republicans emboldened American troops abroad. By January 1947, draftees were actively protesting in the streets of occupied Germany, demanding to go home. By February 1947, Truman and Congress had already butted heads. Truman vetoed a budget that cut off funding for the occupation by the end of the year. While Congress did not have the votes to override the veto, this was at best a small victory for Truman, as Congress simply provided no funding to the occupation. Soon, the military began withdrawing troops for lack of funds. On July 4, 1947, Indianapolis City Councilman Gus van Slyke was assassinated at an anti-occupation rally. Within hours, Republican Congressman Everett Dirksen had whipped a protest rally in Washington, DC into a frenzy with the news. The crowd did not commit any acts of violence, although Tom Schmidt, who was covering the crowd, feared that it might storm the White House. The U.S. suffered another set back days later when the GFF once again prevented the trials of several prominent Nazi leaders. This time, the trials were to be held in Berlin, and managed by the Soviet Union. However, a GFF Werewolf seized an American C-47 and crashed it into the courthouse. However, this event gave the USSR a black-eye, and inspired a new sense of cooperation. The NKVD turned over a DP named Shmuel Birnbaum, who'd been one of the slave-laborers who built Heydrich's hideout, to U.S. Army Howard Frank and Lou Weissberg. Reinhard Heydrich was finally located and killed, although the Administration's critics saw this as even greater reason to pull out troops, while Truman worried that killing Heydrich wasn't really the death of the GFF. This fear proved correct as Joachim Peiper soon picked up where Heydrich left off, launching a series of commercial airline hijackings. In 1948, most of the United States troops in Germany had returned home, and the country hoped against hope that democracy and the atomic bomb would be enough to keep Germany in line. United States in "Les Mortes d'Arthur" The United States suffered a major disaster from which it had not recovered by the end of the 22nd century. This had left the country poor and its cities in ruins. A major export was Coca-Cola after the original formula was rediscovered in the ruins of Atlanta. The US managed to be able to afford to send a team of one man and one woman to Mimas, a moon of Saturn, for the Sixty-sixth Winter Games for the first time in four Olympiads. Private contributions raised the funds for two berths on the Arab World space ship Nasser. Given the team's lack of opportunity for low-g training, they were not expected to contend for any medals but the rest of the world was pleased to see them participating once more. United States in "Must and Shall" The United States survived the Great Rebellion of 1861-1865, and the Southern (formerly Confederate) states were kept in the Union. However, the United States government imposed a harsh and repressive peace upon the rebellious states. In 1942, the federal government stopped a Nazi-backed uprising. Many of the freedoms the Loyal States took for granted were denied the Southern states by the 16th Amendment. United States in "News From the Front" The United States was sharply divided after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Almost immediately, the American press unleashed a continual stream of criticism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's handling of World War II, often releasing strategic secrets in their efforts to demonstrate the president's incompetence. As his poll numbers fell, Roosevelt's position grew more vulnerable, and his honesty was called into question. By June 1942, Roosevelt was on the verge becoming the second president ever to be impeached. United States in "Ready for the Fatherland" The United States lost the European Theater of World War II, after the German-Soviet armistice of 1943 freed up German troops to secure Europe from invasion. The USA and the USSR then invaded and divided up Japan. A Soviet sneak attack on Tokyo with a sunbomb was met by American retaliation in Vladivostok, however the death of Stalin and German mediation prevented the conflict from turning into WWIII. By 1979, the US and its British allies, the Germans, and the Soviets, existed in an uneasy three-way cold war as all did what they could to prevent a third use of sunbombs in war. United States in State of Jefferson In 1919, the United States admitted Jefferson as the 49th state. Located in the Pacific Northwest, Jefferson was created when several counties in northern California and southern Oregon seceded from their respective states after the notion of self-determination that was sweeping Europe had made its way west. The governments of California and Oregon were perfectly happy to let the counties go.Thirty Days Later: Steaming Forward: 30 Adventures in Time, loc. 387. Most of the country's sasquatch population were concentrated in the new state, and benefited from Jefferson's cultural openness and libertarian worldview, and did its best to maintain that culture throughout the 20th century, even as it and the rest of the country went through its ups and downs.Ibid., loc. 400. United States in Supervolcano In the second decade of the 21st Century, the United States became the center of one of history's greatest natural disasters when the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted. United States in "The Terrific Leader" Under the rule of the Terrific Leader, the United States became an authoritarian regime. The Leader maintained a cult of personality to cement his power, ensuring his rule for years.Welcome to Dystopia: 45 Visions of What Lies Ahead, Gordon van Gelder, editor, loc. 1557, ebook. The Leader established a policy of "America First" that rested on double-think. His slogan after several years of rule was "America is Great Again!" However, the Leader also publicly despaired of the ongoing crime and violence, routinely promising that they would end. He ordered the building of a border wall, which he later claimed prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country, slowed down gangs and drugs, and other "terrific" stuff. He also assured the American people that he respected the dignity of work and of working people, which trumped everything else.Ibid., loc. 1617-1632. The Leader's cult of personality was buttressed by tight control on the media and communications. Radios had to be authorized by the state, and televisors were issued to communities as a whole, not to individuals, to ensure the American people were not exposed to wicked lies. The state spied on citizens in their homes.Ibid., loc. 1617. Even though villages found themselves in dire straits, facing freezing conditions in blizzards without sufficient food or power while villagers foraged for whatever they could get,Ibid., loc. 1557-1617. the American people believed whole-heartedly in the Leader's personal strength, foresight, and beneficence. In other words, they loved him.Ibid., loc. 1632. The Leader had initiated a dynastic movement. It was understood that either one of his sons or perhaps his son-in-law would succeed him.Ibid., loc. 1617. United States in "Vilcabamba" When the Krolp attacked Earth in the latter half of the 21st century, the United States lost much of its territory. It merged with Canada in an effort to pool resources and fight off the alien invaders. This plan failed, and the two countries were reduced to rump states along the Rocky Mountains and Wasatch Range, governed from Grand Junction, Colorado. U.S. President Harris Moffatt II negotiated the borders the country with Flargar, the Krolp governor of North America. Generations later, during the presidency of Harris Moffatt III, the Krolp discovered vast amounts of silver and a small amount of gold deposited in northeastern Utah, in U.S. territory. Knowing that Krolp mining technology would leave even the rump U.S. uninhabitable, Moffatt decided to fight rather than allow the Krolp access. War did not begin immediately, however. Moffatt had plenty of opportunity to flee to Craig, Colorado, and initiate Plan Seventeen. While monitoring Krolp channels, Moffatt and his Defense Department learned that the Krolp Subgovernor of the South Central Region was taken to the hospital with an unknown illness (implicitly poisoned by one of the sympathetic humans in his staff). This soon spread to other Krolp officials and loyal humans, sometimes with fatal results. A Krolpish flyer went down, with more Krolp dead and injured. Bridges and overpasses also collapsed within Krolp territory. In response, the Krolp began marching on the mountains. Most of the USA's military power was centered around northeastern Utah, as a further deterrent. After two days, the Krolp began to respond in earnest, after Governor Vrank survived an assassination attempt. Grand Junction was destroyed. Almost immediately, Moffatt and his advisors moved further north, anticipating Craig would follow Grand Junction. By the third day, it was over; Krolpish forces drove into Utah and routed all opposition, as U.S. forces were overwhelmed and began surrendering in mass. Moffat was captured and forced into exile in the Krolp's North American capital of St. Louis, Missouri, the U.S. was defeated and ceased to exist, and the Krolp got their silver and gold. United States in The War That Came Early The United States maintained a policy of isolation and neutrality when the Second World War began over Czechoslovakia in 1938. However, individual Americans had flocked to the Spanish Republican banner in 1936 with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The United States did take steps to protect its interests in China during the Japanese invasion and occupation that began in 1937. However, as long as the Japanese directed their aggression at the Chinese, the US continued to supply Japan with oil and scrap metal, in effect tacitly supporting the Japanese war effort. Americans on the ground in China were not universally happy with this policy. After the sinking of the [[USS Panay (The War That Came Early)|USS Panay]] in 1937, tensions between the countries were higher than normal. However, the Japanese confounded U.S. expectations by launching a war against the Soviet Union and an invasion of Siberia on April 1, 1938. Earlier in 1939, the German submarine U-30 accidentally sank the American ship SS Athenia. The German government denied responsibility, and shifted the blame to Britain. The U.S. government did not at that point see the sinking of the Athenia as a grounds for declaring war (unlike its reaction to the sinking of the Lusitania in the First World War). The U.S. maintained its neutrality throughout the remainder of 1939, although it did begin rearming that year in earnest.West and East, pg. 99. It also began supporting the war efforts of Britain and France. The Big Switch, pg. 334.In the closing months of 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to broker an end to the fighting by returning the borders of Europe to the status quo ante bellum. His offer was rebuffed by Adolf Hitler.West and East, pg. 358. Throughout 1940, the USA remained neutral. For the first half of the year, the U.S. continued its policy of aiding the Western Allies. However, in mid-1940, Britain and France made peace with Germany and joined Germany in its war against the Soviet Union.Ibid., pg. 238. Public opinion was somewhat divided by the so-called "big switch". While some saw Germany as the greater threat, others applauded the switch as they saw the USSR as the greater threat to their values. A thread of anti-Semitism ran through the pro-switch opinion. Roosevelt, who was running for an unprecedented third term, fell into the former camp. At a speech in October 1940, Roosevelt announced that the U.S. would no longer ship arms to Britain and France, and would additionally stop shipping scrap metal and oil to Japan until Japan left China.Ibid., pgs. 336-338. Roosevelt won re-election weeks later.Ibid., pgs. 345-346. While it appeared the United States had a reprieve from the war, on January 12, 1941, Japanese forces attacked United States possessions, including the Philippines and Hawaii.Ibid., pg. 396. The next day, Roosevelt asked for, and received, a declaration of war on Japan.Ibid., pg. 402. Eight days later, Roosevelt was sworn in for a third time.Coup d'Etat, pg. 8. As Germany did not declare war on the U.S., the American military concentrated its efforts exclusively on the Pacific, where it worked in conjunction with Britain, France, and the Dutch forces located in the East Indies.Ibid. pgs. 72-73. However, as the war in Europe continued to tie up its allies resources, the U.S. carried most of the military burden. Japan made the most of its surprise attack. The Philippines finally fell,Ibid., pg 162. not long after General Douglas MacArthur was killed during a Japanese bombing raid.Ibid., pg. 120. Other territories, most notably Wake Island and Guam, also fell.Ibid., pg. 229. The Pacific fleet, under the command of Admiral Husband Kimmel, immediately moved to retake it. While Marines were successfully landed on Wake, the American Navy, expecting conventional ship-to-ship fighting seen at the Battle of Jutland,Ibid., pg. 136.were beaten back by the Japanese fleet's superior air-power. Kimmel went down with his flag ship, the [[USS Arizona (The War That Came Early)|USS Arizona]].Ibid., pg. 295. The landed Marines were largely left behind as the Pacific fleet returned to Hawaii. The American military and political establishment once again turned back to Europe after the 1941 British Military Coup overthrew the pro-German government of Prime Minister Sir Horace Wilson.Ibid. pg. 154. The new government ended its war with the USSR and restarted its war against Germany. Roosevelt ordered the resumption of arms to Britain as a result. Germany responded by resuming unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic.Ibid., pg. 208. On the homefront, public opinion tottered for and against Roosevelt's prosecution of the war, with more than a few voices blaming Roosevelt for allowing the war to happen in the first place.Ibid., pg. 207-208. There were those, however, who not only wanted the war against Japan fought until victory, but who still feared the threat that Germany posed.Ibid, e.g., pgs. 207-208. As a consequence of the war against Japan, Roosevelt ordered the internment of Japanese residents on the U.S. mainland.Ibid., pg. 184. In the meantime, the European situation grew murkier when France also pulled out of the war with the USSR.Ibid., pgs. 388-391. Throughout the remainder of the year, the American navy regrouped and resupplied at Hawaii, with a special emphasis on building a fleet of fighter planes and aircraft carriers.Ibid., pg. 345. As Winter 1941 approached, a fleet including the [[USS Ranger (The War That Came Early)|USS Ranger]] (a carrier), the [[USS Boise (The War That Came Early)|USS Boise]], three destroyers and a heavy cruiser steamed out of Hawaii to once again meet the Japanese. However, the subsequent Battle of the Java Sea was a terrible defeat for the over-confident and badly coordinated allies. Japan was able to consolidate its hold in Southeast Asia, and began to redouble it attacks on Hawaii. Determined to regain momentum, the U.S. launched the largest task force the world had ever seen against in an attempt to retake Wake Island. That subsequent battle proved an even greater disaster for the U.S. than Java Sea, with the US losing all of its aircraft carriers. Midway fell shortly after, leaving Hawaii as the USA's most forward defense post. Despite this series of setbacks, the Democrats were able to hold a majority with some losses in the 1942 Congressional election.Two Fronts, pg. 199, HC. In the top secret realm of military affairs, President Roosevelt met another setback when a project for a new and powerful bomb was declared a boondoggle and cancelled. As this remained a secret, Roosevelt avoided criticism from opponents and the public remained unaware.Ibid., pgs. 272-273. 1944 proved to be the turning point in the Pacific. While Japan had free reign to bomb Hawaii with relative impunity throughout 1942 and into 1943,Ibid., pgs. 166-168., even using biological weapons,Ibid., pgs. 279-282. by early 1944, a dramatic raid on Midway succeeded in driving the Japanese out.Last Orders, pgs. 191-194. That same year, after months of tension, Adolf Hitler decided to initiate war with the United States when German U-boats attacked several American merchant ships in March.Ibid., pgs. 269-70. However, the two countries never engaged in direct conflict. Well before U.S. troops could make their way to Europe, several German military and political leaders form the Committee for the Salvation of the German Nation, with General Heinz Guderian as their leader. The Committee assassinated Hitler in April 1944.Ibid., pg. 300. Guderian and the Committee triumphed in the brief civil war that followed, and fighting ceased on all fronts in Europe.Ibid., pg. 382. As the war in Europe ended before the U.S. could fully involve itself, the United States remained an observer of the European peace process and the various shifts in territory that resulted.Ibid, pg. 318. As Roosevelt wanted an alliance with the Soviet Union to facilitate a quick end to the war with Japan, the U.S. opted not to object to the Soviet annexation of Lithuania, Lativa and Estonia. For his part, Joseph Stalin was eager to get American help in regaining Vladivostok and eastern Siberia, and possibly moving further into Japanese territory.Ibid., pgs. 345-346. Concurrently, Albert Einstein, an early advocate for the Tennessee bomb-project shelved the year before, began to make efforts to restart the project.Ibid., pgs. 398-400. United States in A World of Difference The United States was one of two Earth countries to send a manned ship to the planet Minerva in the 1980s. The other was its rival, the Soviet Union. Following the death of Frank Marquard, the US reluctantly supported the Omalo in the Skarmer-Omalo War. The Omalo emerged victorious, and the US developed very warm relations with Reatur, who suddenly found himself an extremely powerful domain-master. See Also *Confederated Provinces, a constitutional monarchy that serves as geographical analog of the U.S.A. in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump. *Federated Commonwealths of America, a rough analog of the United States found in A Different Flesh *North American Union, a broad analog of the U.S. and Canada combined in the novel The Two Georges. *United States of Atlantis, a very broad analog of the U.S. in the Atlantis Series. *Detina, a kingdom in the fantasy world of The War Between the Provinces. Detinan history broadly parallels American history. References }} * Category:Allied Forces Members * * Category:British Empire (OTL) Category:The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump Category:Crosstime Traffic Category:Curious Notions Category:Days of Infamy Category:The Disunited States of America Category:Dutch Empire Category:Elder Skelter Category:Former Countries (Fictional Work) Category:French Empire (OTL) Category:Greater German Reich (Alternate Timeline) Category:German Empire (Alternate Timeline) Category:Getting Real Category:The Gladiator Category:The Guns of the South Category:The Hot War Category:The House of Daniel Category:In the Presence of Mine Enemies Category:Joe Steele Category:The Last Article Category:Liberating Alaska Category:The Man With the Iron Heart Category:Les Mortes d'Arthur Category:Must and Shall Category:NATO Members Category:News From the Front Category:Ready for the Fatherland Category:Spanish Empire (OTL) Category:Supervolcano Category:State of Jefferson Category:The Terrific Leader Category:The Valley-Westside War Category:Vilcabamba Category:The War That Came Early Category:A World of Difference